Michel Mercier

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Michel Mercier
Minister of Justice
In office 14 November 2010 – 15 May 2012
President	Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister	François Fillon
Preceded by	Michèle Alliot-Marie
Succeeded by	Christiane Taubira
Minister of Rural Areas and Spatial Planning
In office 23 June 2009 – 13 November 2010
President	Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister	François Fillon
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Bruno Le Maire
President of the General Council of Rhône
In office 1990–2013
Preceded by	Jean Palluy
Succeeded by	Danielle Chuzeville
Personal details
Born	(1947-03-07) 7 March 1947 (age 77) Bourg-de-Thizy, France
Political party	Union for French Democracy (Before 2007) Democratic Movement (2007–2009) Union for a Popular Movement (2009–present)
Alma mater	Institute of Political Science, Lyon

Michel Mercier (born 7 March 1947) is a French politician and who served as Minister of Justice from 2010 until 2012.

After studying law and graduating from Jean Moulin University Law school and the Lyon IEP, he taught finance and local government law at the Faculty of Law of Lyon III.

Elected Senator from the Rhône on 24 September 1995, he was the right's official candidate in the municipal elections in 2001 in Lyon, incumbent Mayor Raymond Barre having refused to run for re-election. Arriving behind the right-wing dissident list supported by Charles Millon in his sector, the 5th arrondissement of Lyon, he decided to withdraw in favor of Jean-Michel Dubernard, who established an alliance with Charles Millon. The Socialist Gérard Collomb was elected Mayor of Lyon.

He was re-elected Senator on 26 September 2004. General councillor for the canton of Thizy, he is also President of the General Council of Rhône since February 1990. Treasurer of the UDF, he remained loyal to the opposition of François Bayrou vis-à-vis the government of Dominique de Villepin.

President of the Centrist Union Senate group since 2002, he remained faithful to François Bayrou by joining the MoDem. On 30 January 2008, Michel Mercier, by favouring an alliance with the UMP in Lyon, whose list was led by Dominique Perben for the 2008 municipal elections signaled his disagreement with the strategy of François Bayrou by resigning the presidency of the MoDem in Rhône. He remained MoDem treasurer and member of the executive board of the MoDem until his appointment to the government.

On 23 June 2009, he joined the government of François Fillon as Minister of Rural Areas and Spatial Planning. He announced his hiatus from the MoDem and was replaced as treasurer by Jean-Jacques Jégou. From 14 November 2010 he was Minister of justice in the 3rd government of François Fillon.

After the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy at the 2012 Presidential election, he was replaced by Christiane Taubira. During his tenure as Minister, he was criticized for his lack of communication.